Tuesday, November 02, 2004

The Heart Of Rock 'N' Roll

A few days ago, I heard that song by Huey Lewis & The Proverbial News, and I thought to myself, Why did he choose to name one city over another? Of the select few cities he named, why were two from Oklahoma? Shouldn't he have at least mentioned one city from every other state before coming around to Oklahoma again? I mean, I'm sure the heart of rock 'n' roll was beating there, but did he really need to specify Tulsa and Oklahoma City? I know that most words for songs are chosen for the purpose of either rhyming or having the right amount of syllables. But I'd have replaced Tulsa with Lincoln. It's just an unfair advantage to Oklahoma, given all the cities in states not represented in the song.

Maybe these actually were Mr. Lewis' favorite cities on tour, who knows.

Another weird thing about the song is that it, despite hyping rock 'n' roll, is one of the more decidedly non-rock songs of all time. It's a pop song. (You'll notice the same phenomenon in "We Built This City On Rock 'N' Roll" by Jefferson Starship. Apparently the city in question, San Francisco--where Huey is also from, I believe--, was constructed using rock 'n' roll technology, but, judging from the song, was kept standing by keyboards and effects.)

Is this what the offseason is all about?, you may be asking (along with Has this guy lost it?). Well, kind of and kind of. But the point is, the answer to the first ARSFIPT quiz is that all the cities named were mentioned in Huey Lewis & The News' 80's pop hit "Heart Of Rock 'N' Roll." And the first and only person to guess nailed it. (Even changing the order couldn't fool him!) And ironically enough, he's from the Bay Area. Could it have been an unfair advantage, since surely all Bay Area residents have an astute knowledge of all things News? Nah. The Bosnian wins the prize--he gets a congratulatory email from yours truly. Thanks for playing every-, er, Bosnian.

The next quiz question is: When the woodworker cut his arm with an awl, why did he sprinkle thyme on it?